Evaluation Questions

Jenny and Anne Maree's

'Living and Learning in an Online World'

Assignment 2
vlejam.blogspot.com
Jenny and I have only posted two small components (Voki & Bitstrips) of our overall project of a LMS, Blog and Wiki . Due to the very nature of an everchanging platform and targeted to Year 4,5 & 6's not all directions are written on blog but are delivered in class. Others which will be down as an independent task or home task may have more explicit instructions.The site is intended to grow along with the kids. Also some of our tasks will be compulsory, others choice using favoured 'Multiple intelligence', others directed for the wide range of abilities, individual, group etc.Some will work with teacher, aid, parent and some alone.Even though ultimately we would like the children to be able to work in this environment anywhere, anytime, this is not always a reality and we have to supply a variety of structures to support them.Therefore these questions just help us go back and check the 'how' in the classroom' of learning environment (work) .Therefore although you will find some explicit instructions tasks are generally designed to follow an inquiry and more open ended approach.
All 'platforms' that the children used e.g Learning Management System, Blogs, Wikis (and their tools held within e.g Voki and Bitstrips) were used as communicating and collaborating tools across schools.
Student Centred Approach
Our Learning Management page, Blogs and Wikis on Sustainability & Kids Making a Difference are primarily a Constructivist approach but with several elements of Instructivist delivery included providing the children with the best of both worlds. It attempts to include both Synchronous and Asynchronous communication methods. Using a blend of all these approaches supports a range of learning preferences and our Inquiry approach to learning.

PLEASE RESPOND to questions through discussion tab located above

General questions (Peer appraisal request)

How well do you think our Voki and Bitstrips features cater to our targeted audience ?
How easy or hard was it to navigate around our 'Sustainability' myclasses page ?
Do you believe the myclasses ,blogs and wiki pages would engage the students ?
Do you see the potential for involving parents in these investigations?
Do you see the possibilities of involving experts in these investigations?

Voki and Bitstrip (Peer appraisal request)

How well did the Voki tutorial assist in trialling Voki and Bitstrip?
How well do you think these activities will engage students?
Can you see their educational value of using Voki and Bitstrip in the classroom ?
Can you envisage any diffficulties or issues in using these web 2.0 tools?
Can you think of any other ways you could use these programs to assist in childrens' learning?

Once the children have created their Voki and Bitstrip it is embeded into a shared class blog. It has also encouraged many children to create their own blogs.This blog is linked to their myclasses our Learning Management page. Learning Management System (LMS myclasses )'Sustainability' ( feel free to comment if you desire)

How easy was it to navigate around this site?
Were there any aspects which you found difficult to follow?
Do you see the educational value of posting connected learning spaces using an LMS as a common portal?
Can you see the possibilities for individual, group, partner and specialised targeted work on this page?
Do you think that parent access to this page enlightens them to the curriculun that their child is covering?

Blogs (feel free to comment if you desire)
We trialled two different blog platforms to test user friendly options Edublogs and Blogger.These were designed as a 'host' for the children to post their responses to Sustainable issues through the use of Voki Characters and Bitstrips comics.It also gave them opportunity to respond to other issues and practices currently being discussed or undertaken.

Wikis (feel free to comment if you desire)
We trialled the children using wikis as another source of being able to post their ideas and respond to other students ideas across schools.We envisage as the topic expands there will be greater extension of activities within the site as in e.g.

Worms -Watch and respond to video and post comments and interact across schools
Students for St Joseph's help Students from Holy Saviour to set up a Wormery
Communicate through wiki
Design shared experiences through page.

Both blog and wiki sites are under continuous construction and are reflective of individual needs and inquiries.